34 of the Best Web Design Agencies For Growing Ecommerce Brands

March 8, 2022

62260a0d189208238b01166c 37 Best Web Design Agencies For Growing Ecommerce Brands best web design agencies

On an ecommerce team, your hands are very full.

While you may have excellent operations folks to run point on things internal, very often ecommerce marketers turn to agency partners to exceed the limits of their web presence.

Brands call up their agency team for custom Shopify Liquid themes, custom ecommerce development, or anytime you’re feeling the strain of trying to make the Standard Default Theme stretch past its comfort zone.

Partnering with the right agency unlocks your growth potential. Plus, you get access to some of the brightest minds in the industry. It’s your agency partner’s job to stay at the forefront of trends and technology.

But how should you approach hiring a web design agency?

We’re sharing our recommendations on how to hire the best web design agency for your growing ecommerce brand.

Skip ahead:

What about your in-house team?

Agencies supercharge projects and keep your team agile; partnering shouldn’t mean giving up control entirely. A mix of both in-house and design agency folks can make for a powerful team dynamic that gets more done in less time.

Plus, for smaller, rapidly scaling brands, hiring full-time team members with the exact skill set you need can be tricky. For example, assembling a team of React developers in-house to build and maintain your site redesign can be challenging (and costly) depending on where your store is revenue-wise.

For teams that want to be nimble, a solid partnership with a top web design agency is often exactly how to speed up growth, (and even get recognition by winning awards for your shopping experience!)

We Make Websites tweet
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Ultimately, the best web design agency partnership should be complementary to your brand and make your life easier. 

#cta-mini-fe#Read more: How How Ecommerce Agencies are Unlocking Creative Freedom and Better UX

What are the benefits of hiring a web design agency?

Let’s not dance around it: Hiring an agency can be just as nerve-wracking as it is exciting.

On one hand, you’re thrilled to break ground on a new project. But on the other, you’re putting a lot of trust (and budget) into a third-party team, which would give any ecomm director the jitters.

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But, the reality is, hiring an experienced web design agency can be one of the best decisions you make.

Here’s how your brand can benefit from the right partnership:

1. Experts can focus on web projects that would bog down your ops

With a dedicated external team to keep projects moving, your team can stay efficient and shift gears quickly.

While your in-house team focuses on daily operations, your agency partner can spearhead critical projects—like taking your Shopify store headless, custom app development, or storefront production—you might not have the bandwidth or resources to concentrate on right away.

You can also keep your internal team lean—if needed or desired—when you choose to work with an agency partner.

#cta-visual-fe#<cta-title>Considering Headless Commerce This Year?<cta-title>With Shogun Frontend’s Certified Agency partners, you don’t have to go it alone. See how our partners have helped leading brands implement headless commerce. Learn more

2. Gain valuable external expertise

Having a trusted outside partner to offer up solutions and implement ecommerce design trends can help your brand grow faster.

Working with a web design agency experienced in your vertical means you get a trove of insight, past learnings, and fresh ideas.

Terrific partners might know which channels are great for your vertical, plus, the right web design or Shopify development agency can identify roadblocks based on their past experience and ensure your project is future-proof.

What you’re really looking for is a strategic partner (much more than the ability to code up the changes you want, as that’s relatively common).

As Shogun co-founder Nick Raushenbush says, the best ecommerce agency for your brand will be a partner and advisor:

Nick Raushenbush LinkedIn post
(Image Source)

 

3. Access to top-tier technology

Best-in-breed agencies often have connections to leading software and tools—and the experienced developer teams to match. This means you can work faster, and your team doesn’t have to learn a new tool from scratch.

For example, Shogun Certified Agencies have exclusive access to Shogun Frontend as a unified frontend platform, and receive support on headless builds.

We work to vet our certified partner agencies for project management best practices and development—so these agencies aren’t just well staffed for your web design project or rebrand, but you can rest easy knowing they’re managing and organized build and implementing a solution you won’t need to maintain a great deal of oversight over.

Top agencies will stay up-to-date on new tech and their connections can get you an outcome via software you might not need to procure yourself.

4. Potentially more affordable than hiring for the same in-house roles

For non-recurring projects, like a website relaunch, building a custom Shopify app, or custom Shopify development, outsourcing may be cost-effective instead of hiring in-house for this role.

Working with a design agency is not inexpensive, but it can be more affordable depending on the project, timeline, and budget—especially when you consider the potential ROI.

How do you find the best web design agency?

You’ll want to choose an agency with a proven track record of delivering high-impact results. But partnering is so much more than the ability to perform a service, it’s about compatibility, too.

Here, we’ll walk you through how to research, interview, and hire your next ecommerce agency based on your goals.

Step One: Prioritize your businesses needs

Before you start your ecommerce agency search, understand your store’s priorities.

Is there a type of web design project—like taking your Shopify store headless or custom feature development—you want to accomplish? Are you trying to implement multi-currency or internationalization on Shopify, for example? Are there brands you can point to as examples of web projects you want to replicate?

This information narrows your search and helps the agencies you reach out to pull together the best proposal.

Step Two: Research and vet

As you would approach hiring an in-house team member, learn as much as you can about potential web design agency partners in discovery. Looking for agencies in your vertical with experience working on brands similar to yours.

#cta-paragraph-fe#Pro tip: A great place to find reputable agencies is through your tech partners. Often, ecommerce tools will have trusted partnerships with agencies, which not only helps you find potential agencies but it means you’re considering vetted agencies.

You can turn to your known ecommerce backchannels: communities, slack groups, and newsletters to discover who other brands are working with, and make a shortlist of your own.

Dive into their portfolios

When making your shortlist, consider the following indicators of success:

  1. Budget: How much are you willing to spend? Knowing your budget off the bat can make vetting less daunting.
  2. Experience: Does the web design agency you’re considering have experience not only in the service you’re after but in your vertical? Selling socks is totally different than selling food and beverage with an expiry date and complex fulfillment processes, for example.
  3. Happy clients: Excited clients willing to sing an agency’s praises is always a good temperature check. All-star agencies show how they added value to their clients’ businesses. The best web design agencies may even share client contact details with you for a reference check!

Step Three: Exploration calls

After you have your shortlist, it’s time for informal or introductory calls.

During this stage, determine the agency partners’ technical skillset and get a sense of working chemistry with your brand/needs.

Questions to ask during discovery with an agency

When vetting, ask a variety of questions that reveal experience in your vertical, knowledge of the latest trends for growth, technical aptitude, and compatibility.

The specific questions you ask will vary depending on the project you have in mind. The following are a great place to start for web design projects:

Technical

  • What tools do you use?
  • How much experience do your team members collectively have working on custom Shopify/SFCC/Magento solutions?
  • What is the biggest challenge when developing for Shopify/SFCC/Magento?
  • What is one aspect of building a custom solution for [insert platform] that you feel your agency excels at?
  • Can you provide examples of other brands you’ve launched on [insert chosen platform]?

#cta-paragraph-fe#Pro Tip: Ask to see a detailed case study on a similar web design project the agency launched for a brand in your vertical. This will help you verify expertise and find the agency that can extend the capabilities of your existing Shopify Plus or BigCommerce theme, take your brand headless, or whatever your goal.

Experience

  • Tell us about your most successful project in our vertical
  • Tell us about a project that didn’t work out and how you handled it
  • Does your team have any certifications or partnerships with reputable ecommerce tools/groups?
  • Do you ever outsource work to contractors?

Project management/scope

  • How will projects be managed? Who would be our main point of contact throughout the duration of the project?
  • What would we be expected to provide as the client?
  • Can you walk me through the onboarding process?
  • How do you typically handle-post launch maintenance?
  • Can you offer a rough estimate of how long a project like ours would take?
  • How often will our teams communicate? What is the expectation around that?

If you have specific questions about the agency’s previous work, this is a great time to get clarity.

#cta-visual-fe#<cta-title>Considering Headless Commerce This Year?<cta-title>With Shogun Frontend’s Certified Agency partners, you don’t have to go it alone. See how our partners have helped leading brands implement headless commerce. Learn more

Step Four: Review proposal &  partner up

When reviewing proposals, keep these considerations in mind:

  • Does the agency understand your ask?
  • Do they have the skillset, experience, and tools to execute your web design project?
  • Does working with this agency require ongoing maintenance?
  • Is the total project cost included in the proposal and is it within your budget?

Once you’ve wrapped interviews and found the best web design agency for your brand, it’s time to get down to the brass tacks.

34 of the best web design agencies in ecommerce

Choosing a web design agency partner is no small task, and you should feel completely confident in your partnership.

The Shogun Partner Agency Network includes some of the top agencies for ecommerce brands across the globe and is a great place to start (if we do say so ourselves!).

Each of our certified agencies completes our vetting process, which includes reference checks with past clients and a build assignment, so we can confidently say these agencies are some of the best in the biz.

These agencies also offer other services in addition to web design.

Here’s a growing list of our partners to explore (they’re listed below in no particular order):

obundle

  • Web design
  • BigCommerce web development
  • Conversion rate optimization
  • SEO
  • Data Import
  • Headless development

Lucid

  • Web design
  • Branding
  • Custom builds
  • Strategy
  • Shopify
  • Store setups
  • UX UI

Assemble

  • Full stack development and automation
  • Sales and marketing integrations
  • Custom platform and tools

Aureate

  • Consulting and strategy
  • Web design
  • UX design
  • Headless development
  • Performance and conversion rate optimization
  • Managed support service

BlueBolt

  • Strategy
  • Web design
  • Headless development
  • Support
  • Marketing

Dyode

  • Consulting
  • Headless development
  • Branding
  • Digital Marketing
  • UX design
  • Analytics

Form Factory

  • Headless development
  • Storefront creative

Helixian

  • Development
  • Design
  • Headless development

Manufactur

  • Branding
  • Shopify and headless development
  • Packaging
  • Strategy
  • Sustainable web and design solutions

AbsoluteWeb

  • Development
  • Headless development
  • UX/UI design
  • Branding
  • Content production
  • Digital marketing

AlphaOmega

  • Brand design
  • Web development
  • Growth strategy

Avex

  • UX design and development
  • Klaviyo email marketing
  • Conversion rate optimization
  • Ecommerce strategy and discovery

Coldsmoke Creative

  • Headless development
  • Platform migration
  • Shopify web design and development
  • ADA remediation and development

Corra

  • Development
  • Headless and PWA development
  • Strategy
  • UX design
  • Branding and identity
  • Content strategy and production

e2X

  • Strategy
  • UX design
  • Delivery
  • Ongoing support

Simplistic

  • Web design
  • Development
  • Optimization
  • Support

WeMakeWebsites

  • Web design
  • UX design
  • Development
  • Headless development
  • Replatforming
  • SEO and data migration

Studio 31

  • Web design
  • Strategy
  • Shopify solutions

DigitalHaus

  • Web design and development
  • Headless development
  • Platform migration
  • Strategy
  • Marketing
  • Support

Tidal Commerce

  • Development
  • Headless development
  • Shopify Plus migrations
  • UX/UI design
  • Integrations
  • Custom app development

Sunrise Integration

  • Development
  • Web design
  • API integration
  • Shipping and 3PL software
  • Managed infrastructure services
  • Data migration and integration

Media Lounge

  • UX design
  • Conversion rate optimization
  • SEO
  • PPC and paid social
  • Hosting and security
  • Support

Overdose

  • UX/UI design
  • Development
  • Platform implementation
  • Apps and extensions
  • AI and personalization
  • Subscriptions and loyalty

American Eagle

  • Web and app development
  • Web design
  • Strategy
  • Hosting and security
  • Technology training
  • AI consulting

O2Web

  • Strategy
  • Platform and integration
  • Performance and automation

PixelUnion

  • Web design
  • Content production
  • Branding
  • Development
  • Platform migrations
  • App integrations

Electric Enjin

  • Headless development
  • UX/UI design
  • Craft CMS
  • Support

Arkade

  • Strategy
  • Development
  • Implementation
  • Support

Born Group

  • Customer experience
  • Brand experience
  • Machine learning and AI
  • IOT and robotics
  • Blockchain
  • Quantum computing

RightPoint

  • Strategy
  • Web design
  • Content
  • Engineering
  • Insights, analysis, and reporting

Calashock

  • Web design
  • Development
  • BigCommerce replatforming
  • Headless development
  • Conversion rate optimization
  • Support

eHouse

  • Strategy
  • UX/UI design
  • Development
  • Headless and PWA development
  • Data migration
  • Integrations

Hylink

  • Branding and partnerships
  • Creative
  • Development
  • Performance marketing
  • Measurement and data
  • Influencer marketing and management

One Rockwell

  • Strategy
  • Development
  • Shopify Plus development
  • UX/UI design
  • Testing and QA
  • Integrated content and commerce platforms

Choosing the best ecommerce agency as you scale

For large, complex web projects and web design, working with an agency partner is often critical.

For example, if you’re considering going headless this year, partnering with a top web design agency is a great approach. Not only can you lean on their expertise for your implementation, but you also gain access to leading frontend tech to power your project.

#cta-visual-fe#<cta-title>Need an Exceptional Ecommerce Web Experience?<cta-title>See how Shogun Frontend can help you bring your creative vision to life. Learn more

The Shogun Team

Shogun's team is full of whipsmart ecommerce experts, dedicated to making the process of building and customizing your Shopify store simpler, faster, and more intuitive.

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